This application discloses an invention which is related, generally and in various embodiments, to a system and method for providing information regarding a status of an item. The information may be provided for a variety of different items, and may relate to items being transported from a first location within an environment to a second location within the environment. For purposes of simplicity, the invention will be described in the context of providing information regarding a status of an item being transported within a hospital facility.
Hospitals are required and or desire to track various items that are delivered internally from their internal service departments to various areas of the hospital, including but not limited to, nursing units, patients, ancillary and support areas, surgical and emergency areas, outpatient areas and clinics. Typical examples of this would be the delivery of medication to nursing units, the picking up of lab specimens from nursing areas, the delivery or pick up of blood products from the blood bank, etc. Many of the deliveries may require tracking and security for regulatory purposes, such as the delivery and storage of controlled substances by the pharmacy or the delivery and storage of blood products from the blood bank. In other instances the tracking and security are highly desirable, such as the delivery of high cost or high alert (e.g., dangerous) medications.
Currently, hospital personnel who wish to accurately ascertain the status of a particular item have to place telephone calls, ask other personnel, walk the planned delivery route, etc. to accurately ascertain the status of the item. For example, to accurately ascertain the status of a medication package which has been sent out from the hospital pharmacy for delivery to a particular nursing unit, hospital personnel may first need to contact the nursing unit to confirm that the medication package was delivered. If the medication package has not yet been delivered, hospital personnel may need to contact the person who was making the delivery. If the person making the delivery is not responsive, hospital personnel may need to walk the planned delivery route to try to find the current location of the medication package.
Having to take the above-described actions to accurately ascertain the status of an item is labor intensive, relatively expensive, prone to inaccuracies, and thus less than optimal.